Let's do a flashback, shall we? Let this adorable picture do the talking: my baby sis and me, goofing around in a swimsuit (me) and pajamas + a swimsuit + our older brother's psychedelic swim trunks + socks (my sis). Yeah, my sister has always been the more creative dresser between the two of us. My haircut was better, tho. I came across this picture while sorting through old stuff, and this shot stood out to me because it shows how close we were. Some things never change.

Flash forward some 18 years later, and we're still adorable, we're still super close, and my sis still dresses like a CRAZYPERSON. But, like, a sexy crazy person. Check us out being fab as fuck in our swimwear, rocking our real girl, no photoshop, no exercise, no diet bodies like it's nobody's business (because your body really is nobody's business).

A few weeks ago, my sister gave me the very best birthday gift ever: this Naked 2 palette by Urban Decay. I had been lusting over the Naked palettes since forever, but for some reason I never took the plunge to spend the 45-50€ it took to actually call the luxury palette my own. My birthday was the perfect occasion to add it to my collection. I have used it literally every morning since I got it, proving the incredible quality and versatility of the Naked palette. Of course, the internet is already filled with amazing reviews of the Naked palettes, but I figured you might be interested in my perspective regardless. Read on for a review of the palette, and four different looks I created!

The Naked palettes at the moment come in three varieties: the warm-neutral toned Naked 1 (or original), the neutral/cool toned Naked 2 palette, and the rosey, softer Naked 3 palette. I was going back and forth a bit between 3 and 2 when my sister asked me which one I wanted, but in the end I picked the 2 because it had a few darker shades, and more variety than the 3. I'm pretty fair skinned, but my high contrast colouring (dark hair and eyes, fair skin) looks better with medium shade make up, as light coloured make up tends to wash me out or make me look like a Barbie doll. I have no regrets about picking the Naked 2 palette, I have found that it contains a nice variety of shades to create warm, cool and neutral looks. Check out the shades!

Can someone explain to me why it is so hard to find a wrap dress these days? When and why has this classic, flattering silhouette fallen from grace? If this dress came in a number of different prints and colours, I'd be stocking up because nothing makes me feel more feminine and pretty than this dress. Such a good investment.

You know what I love? Taking a break from it all on a sunny day to spend some time with my mom and my sis at the waterside. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the past few days, and I couldn't be happier. Belgium so often has grey, chilly spring/summer days, so when we do get relatively long stretches of sun and warmth, I feel like the luckiest little duckling in the pond. Especially when I can pull out a pretty cotton sundress like the one I'm wearing here.

BTW, that point when you and your possible sister(s) reach the age where you can make crude jokes about sex and relationships with your mom: that's basically the best part of adulthood.

Is there a colour more worth obsessing over than rose gold? Why do we even obsess over colours? WHAT IS COLOURS? Deep shit, man. But anyway, I absolutely love rose gold in beauty products such as eyeshadow, and recently it has become my favourite nail polish shade. A bit of modern, sleek oomph, but still very understated and classy. I ended up buying the Rose shade from Model's Own Chrome collection after seeing it make the rounds on a number of beauty blogs, and despite this not being a raving review, I have fallen head over heels with the shade. Let's go into detail.

Hey guys! This post is sponsored, but I think it will be interesting to tell you about B2C Telecom nonetheless.

Raise hands if you and your smartphone are inseparable. Yeah, I'm willing to go out on a limb and bet that most of you are - I know I am. I'm as close as one can be to all those dystopian animes where people are living in a limbo state where the boundaries between online and offline start to blur (Serial Experiments Lain, anyone?). It only seems logical that someone who is so into styling and accessorizing herself would also enjoy extending that preening process to her smartphone. Sadly, Samsung phones aren't as well furnished with accessorizing options as, for example, iPhones. Which is why I was happy to hear about B2C telecom, which does offer accessories for all kinds of smartphone models apart from the ubiquitous iPhone. I'm rocking a Samsung S4 since my S3 finally caved after a dunk in the toilet, and the B2C Telecom website offers the opportunity to design affordable cases for my smartphone, in the shape of a flipcover or a regular case. You can upload your own images, clip art, text or just play around with colours. It's really fun, and a super easy way to customize as well as protect your phone.

After a couple of days at the Condado Plaza Hilton (and after my conference ending), we grabbed our stuff and moved over to Ocean Park, where I booked a room in a more authentic residential neighborhood than the Miami Beach type of place Condado feels like. Just a ten minute drive from where we started, suddenly we were in the middle of some homey, colorful streets. Our little blue fenced house was literally one minute walking distance from the beautiful Ocean Park beach, which was never crowded and had the best sunlit late afternoons and coconut ice cream. Our Airbnb host, Daniel, was awesome: friendly, ready to help us with a list of suggestions, warm and super cute to boot. Let me give you an impression of the place.

This was my outfit approx 99% of the time: a bikini, and a crochet beach cover up I bought two years ago at Vero Moda.

The professional high point of our Puerto Rico travels was my presentation at the ICA2015 conference, obviously. As much as moments like these get my adrenaline pumping, I love that feeling of "this is go-time" when I have to prove myself by giving my best performance. When presenting your research, the best way to keep the nerves at bay is telling yourself that you are the expert in this matter, and that your job is to explain your work to people who want to hear about it. Keeps things casual yet focused. Another thing that always gets me in the right mindset, is to look the part. What can I say, I'm a material girl in a material world. I put quite some thought in the outfit, make up and hair I would be rocking at my international presentation, and this is the end result of that thought process. I loved the look, by the way, and I wouldn't change a thing! This dress was SUCH a good buy. I rarely find a body hugging dress that flatters me like this one does and I wish I could buy it in five different colours and prints.

Yo! It's my birthday today (28!), and I'm feeling less than festive because of TIRED (jetlag) and SICK (crappy Belgian weather), so I'm going to try to cheer myself up my posting some Puerto Rico shots of the pool/beach area around the Condado Plaza Hilton, and yours truly chilling in said locale. Whenever I had some time off from the conference, you can bet your ass I was sitting by the pool taking in the sights (along with some piña colada). Just what I'd need right now. Let's keep things sunny and simple!